By: K. Michelle Moran | Grosse Pointe Times | Published June 2, 2026
GROSSE POINTE PARK — About three years after breaking ground, the A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Center for the Performing Arts in Grosse Pointe Park is finally finished and welcoming visitors.
After a successful grand opening May 16-17 that drew more than 700 attendees and featured performances by Grosse Pointe Theatre, the Grosse Pointe Symphony Orchestra, Eisenhower Dance Detroit, Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit and Detroit Opera, the venue will launch its inaugural season with GPT’s performance of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, “Cinderella,” June 5 to 21.
Paul Schaap called seeing the building completed “a dream come true.”
The more than $50 million project — to which the Schaaps donated in excess of $30 million — includes a state-of-the-art, wood-paneled, 435-seat theater for live performances. The theater has a starry-night ceiling, a mezzanine level with its own restrooms and concessions stand, a hydraulically adjustable stage that can be expanded outward to accommodate a play with a large cast or set, an orchestra pit with a lift, and a trap door that necessitated adding a basement to the building — at additional cost.
“Years ago, Carol and I went to the Fox (Theatre) and saw ‘Les Miz,’ and somebody fell through the floor, and I said to Ray (Cekauskas, the architect), ‘We’ve got to have a basement’ (to add a trap door),” Schaap said.
Situated on 2.4 acres — a portion of the parking lot is in Detroit — the 49,000-square-foot structure includes a fine art gallery that currently features selections from the collection of Richard and Jane Manoogian, who have donated works to the Detroit Institute of Arts. The Manoogians were among the first supporters of this project and donated more than $5 million toward it; James and Patricia Anderson also contributed more than $5 million toward the Schaap Center. The Valade Family Fund contributed more than $2.5 million.
They were among the dozens of local families and foundations who made this project possible.
“It’s not often that we hear about a new performing arts center being built,” Schaap Center Chief of Staff Anne Marie Harris said. “It would have never happened if not for philanthropy.”
Attention to detail has been keen throughout the construction. For example, Schaap said the glass used for the expansive lobby windows contains a material that absorbs ultraviolet light so artworks can be displayed there without fear of fading or sun damage.
A special boiler inside the building will be used to warm the sidewalks so ice will melt in the winter, Schaap said.
Cekauskas also designed a chemistry building for Wayne State University and the lab for Schaap’s former biotechnology company, Lumigen. Schaap said Cekauskas met with partner arts groups like GPT and asked them what they needed. The results include lighted makeup and dressing rooms with a shower, a room to fix set pieces that break during a performance, a room for singers and musicians to warm up their voices or instruments and a green room for performers or others to relax. A patio adjacent to the green room will incorporate pavers and rails from the old Detroit streetcar system, which Schaap said had a turnaround in that area; work on the patio was still underway at press time.
The flooring is terrazzo and the walls are Mankato limestone from Minnesota. White oak is used throughout the building for walls and ceilings, and the wood used for the theater seats came from a vendor in Montreal, who matched it to the white oak acoustic paneling in the theater.
One element of the building that will be literal music to the ears of patrons and performers alike is a Steinway grand piano that Schaap donated. He said a pianist from the area flew to New York to help with selecting the best instrument for the theater.
Grosse Pointe Park Mayor Michele Hodges called the grand opening “very exciting” for the city and the community.
“Fifty million dollars’ worth of philanthropy is something to celebrate,” Hodges said.
It all started with an idea former Park City Manager Dale Krajniak had for an art center next to City Hall. Schaap recalls Krajniak speaking to him and his wife about purchasing some properties in 2012 with the proviso that they could only be used for an art/performing arts center. Schaap said they agreed and paid over $300,000 for the parcels, which sat dormant for about the next decade as the Schaaps paid property taxes on the land.
A robust volunteer program had about 100 applicants at press time.
“One key component of the center is our ambassador program,” Harris said. “They will be a part of the team during events.”
Ambassadors will serve as volunteer greeters, ushers and coat check workers. It’s a way to keep costs down, since the arts groups that will be performing at the center are nonprofits.
“It has to be affordable to our community partners to be able to come in and use the space, and it has to be affordable to our patrons,” Harris said.
At press time, Schaap said they were seeking additional donations for an endowment to support the center in the future.
A stormwater retention system partially paid for by a $1.7 million state grant will collect rainwater and send it out to Lake St. Clair, reducing the burden on the Park’s sewer system, Schaap said.
The highly technical nature of the center — which has been designed to suit the complex acoustic, lighting and other needs of music and theatrical performances — delayed the opening of the building, which had been slated for fall 2025.
Patrons used to seeing cupholders everywhere will no doubt note their absence inside the theater. Eating and drinking will not be permitted inside the theater, but there’s plenty of room in the first and second floor lobbies for people to eat a snack or enjoy a beverage.
To make the building more accessible to the public, the Manoogian art gallery and the community gallery will be open free of charge two Saturdays per month. The community gallery currently features works on loan from the Marshall Fredericks Sculpture Museum. Because the center just opened, there’s an additional Saturday in June on the schedule. Visitors are welcome to drop in from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 6, 13 and 20. Harris said groups who’d like to book a tour can be accommodated on Mondays by appointment. She added that they hope to offer school field trips in the future.
Both galleries will feature rotating exhibitions.
There’s a bittersweetness to it for Schaap, whose wife of 47 years, Carol, never got to see the building completed — she died at home in Grosse Pointe Park Aug. 4, 2023, at the age of 85. But her vibrant spirit is alive in the building, and her effervescence is evident in a new portrait of the couple — by former Grosse Pointer Rob Maniscalco — that’s on display on the main floor of the center. They were both major supporters of the arts; with a gift of $5 million, the Schaaps were the first to contribute to the Grand Bargain, which saved the Detroit Institute of Arts from having to sell works in its collection during Detroit’s bankruptcy proceedings in 2013 and 2014.
“Carol would be proud,” Schaap said of the center. “She’d absolutely love it. We both used to go to the Hilberry (Theatre) and a lot of the theaters (downtown).”
The Schaap Center is located at 15001 E. Jefferson Ave. in Grosse Pointe Park. For more information, visit schaapcenter.org.